Portland Timbers trade Eric Alexander to New York Red Bulls, Paulson hints at more player moves to come

View full sizeMidfielder Eric Alexander joined the Portland Timbers in a midseason trade from FC Dallas back in 2011, hoping to find a team where he could find consistent playing time. While he did lead the Timbers in assists in 2012, he found himself in and out of the lineup last season as the Timbers searched for foundational players. On February 11, Alexander will again be on the move as he was traded to New York for allocation money. At least per Merritt Paulson's tweets today, he might not be the only Timbers player changing addresses.Jennifer Kesgard, Community Blogger

The Portland Timbers have returned to the Rose City after 10 days of training in Arizona combined with playing their first four competitive matches of 2013. While competitive might be a stretch relating to pre-season matches, the fact the Timbers played one of their heated rivals (Seattle), an Eastern conference team considered one of the early favorites for 2013 MLS Cup (Sporting Kansas City) and a Western Conference rival that the team hasn’t had the best history against (Colorado), the competition certainly is a higher caliber than in previous seasons. The team is also continuing to explore adjustments within their roster, and announced the first move of what is expected to be a busy week according to Timbers owner Merritt Paulson on his twitter feed. The team has traded midfielder Eric Alexander to the New York Red Bulls for allocation money.

Alexander’s status with the team seemed to be in constant flux after his trade in 2011 from FC Dallas for Jeremy Hall, as he joined the team late that season and had trouble finding consistent playing time. While showing up to training camp with improved speed for 2012 and eventually leading the team in assists for the season, Alexander ping ponged in and out of the lineup. After starting the first six matches of 2012 and making five consecutive starts in July, he was used mostly as a late match substitution in the midfield. He might not have been the flashiest of players, but Alexander played very well with using the skills he had – jamming up open space in the middle to create turnovers, and linking together passes in traffic. However, with the offseason trade to acquire Will Johnson, the signing of Diego Valeri, and a desire to keep Diego Chará more central, Alexander would have been pressed to find consistent playing time.

While the trade caught me by surprise, I had considered this was a possibility after last week’s injury news where the Timbers lost two forwards to ACL injuries for lengthy spells: Brent Richard and Bright Dike. The Timbers could use Darlington Nagbe up top more, but with just four true strikers on the roster (Sebastian Rincon, Danny Mwanga, Ryan Johnson and Jose Valencia), the team could use some reinforcements up top. It does appear that the wheels are in motion, especially after a tweet from Paulson to wish Alexander good luck in NY. Paulson also indicated there would be more player news later this week, so this foreshadow more adjustments before the Timbers’ next match on February 17 when they open up play in their pre-season tournament at JELD-WEN Field. Portland meets up with the San Jose Earthquakes at 5:00 PM in the second half of a doubleheader, as FC Dallas meets Swedish side AIK in the opening match at 2:30 PM. The Timbers will play FC Dallas on February 20 before battling AIK on February 23.

Another facet of the plan appears to have come to fruition with the news courtesy of William Conwell of Stumptown Footy that forward Deon McCaulay has joined the club on trial starting on February 11, while defender Mikael Silvestre’s trial with the team has concluded with no announcement of a deal. Apparently, Silvestre has chosen to remain in Arizona to train with another MLS club that is still in camp down there instead of joining the Timbers back in Portland. Conwell also noted that defender Calum Angus, an English player most recently playing in Sweden, is also on trial for an undisclosed amount of time. The Timbers are also hopeful to have the status of Franck Songo’o sorted out as soon as possible, as he also remains in training with Houston.

Here’s a current update of the Timbers roster after the news of Alexander’s trade:

* The Timbers acquired the MLS Homegrown rights for Gallego from New York Red Bulls, which allowsPortland the first right of refusal in signing him to an MLS contract.

** Songo'o is still listed on the Timbers roster page as under contract, and the Timbers still hold his rights. However, the team and player haven't been able to reach an acceptable contract, and Songo'o is now training in Houston. In a statement in January, Coach Caleb Porter indicated that Songo'o would not return to Portland.